Plaza Serrano and Evita Museum

So, it's a long story, but we never made it to San Telmo for the fair (there's always next Sunday!).  However, while walking to Plaza Serrano (the square near our house with all the bars) on Sunday afternoon, I found a little feria (market) of my own.

They had an interesting mix of cheap handmade crafts and expensive artisan crafts.  Follow me!

Hats for dogs!

These were supposed to be cameras, but I didn't quite get how:

This stand had handmade jewelry with a technology theme:

Honestly, it was all pretty tacky, but still unique.

They're really into magnets here:

I bought some earrings for $3 each:

The reason these are so off center and just plain bad is because I held my phone to my chest and I would point my body towards each stand and slyly snap pictures, like a spy.  Not my best spy work.

Even the bars surrounding the plaza were open and filled with stands:

I bought 2 shirts and a sweater, but they weren't cheap.  Clothes here are pricey because there are so many up and coming designers and designer clothes are so much more expensive.  I'm used to buying stuff at Target, so a normal $40 sweater is not cheap, especially if I'm outside!  I'm at a stand at a flea market and you want to charge me $40!  Nuts!

Then I decided to go to the Museo Evita because it's down the street from our house and before coming to Argentina the only thing I knew about Argentina was Evita, so I figured might as well pay homage.  It wasn't Aaron's thing, so I went on my own.

Eva Duarte was born in 1919 to a middle-class family.  Her father died when she was young and her family's economic situation soured quickly.  Her mother struggled to make ends meet and her strength was a huge influence on Eva.  Once she was a teenager, Eva became a model and actress.

When she was in her early 20s (1944, to be exact), she met Juan Peron and they were married the following year.  Juan was elected president of Argentina in 1946, making Eva Peron the First Lady of Argentina.  

The museum had lots of old artifacts, pictures and outfits belonging to Evita.  I have to say the outfits were my favorite.

Her fashion was obsessed over like Princess Diana.

During her reign as First Lady (1946-1952), she ran the Ministries of Labor and Health, founded the Eva Peron Foundation helping orphaned children and started the first female political party called the Female Peronist Party.

In 1952, at only 33 years old, Eva Peron succumbed to cancer.

Her funeral was held in The Center and it was huge!  She now lays in Recoleta Cemetery:

The museum was nice, filled with pictures, memorabilia and videos.  The problem is that most of it was in Spanish and there were few English translations.  I still enjoyed it though.

Then I visited the gift shop and they have everything you can imagine with Evita's face on it!

There was a small art gallery of sculptures and paintings depicting the employment opportunities she provided for the poor.

There was no mention (that I could see), of the movie Evita or Madonna anywhere in the museum.  I've heard that most Argentinians didn't care for the movie or the choice of Madonna in the leading role because she was known as being too racy with her music.

At night, we checked out The Palermo Club because it's directly across the street from our house and they had a live band inside.

It was a huge warehouse with a couple bars and couches surrounding the dance floor.  It was crazy!  The band was singing in Spanish, but the music was peppy and fun.

Tomorrow we're going to try and tour Recoleta Cemetery, a famous cemetery where everyone who's anyone in Argentina is buried.